Stumbled on a stat about kill fees in a contract template

I was digging through a random freelance contract template from 2019 last night and saw the kill fee was set at just 10% of the total project cost. Honestly, I always thought it was something like 30-50% standard, not that low. Has anyone else pushed back on a tiny kill fee and gotten a better number?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_laura17h ago

10% feels like a "we'll maybe pay you if we feel like it" number, not a real kill fee. I once signed a contract with a 15% kill fee and then accidentally spent more than that just on the research phase (oops).

garcia.cameron4h ago

15% is rough when you're already out of pocket on research. I've been there with a 20% kill fee that barely covered my transcription costs. The math only works if you get killed before doing any real work.